


Hot Chocolate and Blue Cookies

by FestusGirl



Series: But I'm Straight... Right? [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: (hence the title lol), Alternate Universe - Mortal, Annabeth Chase is a Good Friend (Percy Jackson), Bisexual Character, Bisexuality, Blue Cookies (Percy Jackson), Crushes, Cute Kids, F/M, Fluff, Hot Chocolate, Percy Jackson is a Good Bro, Questioning, aka estelle, because 'choosing a side' is nonsense, because estelle will rule the world one day, because somehow there's no official tag for that yet, bro as in brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27286171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FestusGirl/pseuds/FestusGirl
Summary: After ordering hot chocolate at a cafe Percy's never been to, he gets a crush on the cute girl working behind the counter. But wait a minute... didn't he use to have a crush on his best friend... who is a guy? Then why did he suddenly like this cute girl he barely knew?orThe lowkey coffee shop au ft. bi representation that nobody asked for.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: But I'm Straight... Right? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992331
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	Hot Chocolate and Blue Cookies

**Author's Note:**

> hi so, i'm back with another long oneshot that i somehow managed to finish. this is kind of a sequel to _confused, confused, can't figure out my own feelings_ , but they can be read separately! and this too was beta read by my fantastic beta @lovelylittlelion, kisses to you for hyping me up throughout the writing process again, thank you so much bub ^^
> 
> also, i'm not bi, so even tho i know a lot about it and did some extra research for this fic, there can still be some inaccuracies, so if you're bi and feel like something mentioned is completely wrong, please tell me so i can fix it. as always, characters belong to rick riordan, and i hope you enjoy!

Percy let out a deep sigh as he drove home through the rain. School had been really overwhelming lately, so much in fact, that he barely even had time to babysit his little sister when his mum and stepdad were out.

When he got to his house, he rang the doorbell- he was too tired to look for his keys- and waited for someone to open the door. It took a few seconds, but eventually Nico opened it.

'Hi Neeks,' he said.

'Hey, did you get your work and stuff done?' Nico asked, to which Percy lazily nodded.

'Where's Estelle?'

'In the loungeroom with Will doing who knows what.'

They walked to the loungeroom and Percy smiled at the sight: Will was lying on his back on the ground, holding a giggling Estelle up in the air as she held out her arms, pretending to fly. As soon as she caught sight of the two other boys, she reached her hands out to them, making grabbing motions with her little hands.

Percy walked over to Will and took Estelle from him, placing a kiss on her cheek. 'Hey Stelly, how was it with Will and Nico?' he asked her.

As Estelle happily babbled about what was most likely her day, Percy led Will and Nico back to the door to let them out.

'I couldn't thank you guys enough for looking after Estelle...again,' he said.

'Don't worry about it, Percy!' Will answered with a bright smile. 'We don't mind it, right Nico?'

Nico hummed and nodded softly.

'Okay, well, say bye bye Estelle,' he told his sister as the other boys waved, noting their goodbye.

'Bah!' she yelled, and Percy shook his head.

'No, it's 'bye', not 'bah',' he told her and shut the door behind him.

'Bah!' his sister repeated giggling.

He laughed. 'Don't worry Stelly, you'll get there one day. Now, I think it's time for some blue cookies. What do you say?'

Estelle squealed with delight, and Percy kissed her cheek again.

'Okay, well, let's go get them then!'

The next day Percy went back to school with clear bags under his eyes; while he'd studied at the library all day, he'd forgotten to do his homework, so he'd tried finishing everything the night prior, causing him to have only slept for about two hours.

The cold outside didn't make it any better, because now all he could think of was how warm and comfortable his bed had been in the morning, and how much he wanted to be there again.

'Hey Percy.'

Seeing as Percy was half asleep the sudden voice behind him made him jump.

'Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.'

When Percy turned around to see who was talking to him, he was almost blinded by the bright presence of none other than Will Solace.

'Oh, hi Will,' he said.

'Um, I was wondering if you would maybe want to grab some hot chocolate with me after school, since-'

'Wait, wait, wait,' Percy said sluggishly. 'You're not asking me out right? You have a boyfriend.'

Will snorted. 'If you'd have let me finish, I'd have said that you looked pretty stressed out and overworked lately, so I thought a nice cup of hot chocolate would help.'

Percy thought about it for a moment. He still had so much studying to do, since he had quite a lot of tests at the end of the week and- he stopped his train of thoughts, maybe that was exactly what Will meant. He hummed. 'Okay, I'll see you at my locker after school. And I'll pay, to make up for all the babysitting.'

With that he left to go to his favourite class: physics.

He let out a deep sigh. Even his usual sarcasm wouldn't be able to make the stupid subject any better today. He was just too tired, and too stressed to be bothered to try making the best of it. It's not that he _hated_ it, his teacher just sucked at his job and wasn't at all likeable, causing Percy to leave the class knowing less than he actually did before it started.

So as his stupid teacher was talking about some stupid physics related thing again, his mind filled with the thoughts of hot chocolate. Nice, soft, silky smooth deliciousness to fill his tummy and warm him up from inside. Just the thought of it calmed him down a bit, so actually drinking it later that day would most likely relieve him of all his stress. And all of that thanks to Will noticing that he looked like shit.

Percy couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed. It hadn't even been one of his best friends that'd noticed. No, it had been his best friend's boyfriend. Estelle's babysitter.

He was pulled back to reality as he heard his name get called: 'Percy? Are you awake mister Jackson?'

'Huh?'

The class laughed.

'I asked if you were awake, Percy,' his teacher repeated.

'Not really,' Percy admitted.

'Well, maybe you could explain question fifteen of the homework for the rest of the class next week then.'

Percy took a quick look at the exercise in question, noticing a little star just above the number fifteen, meaning it was an extra hard exercise that he would struggle with for a whole evening just to get it wrong in the end.

'Not really,' he repeated, starting to feel more and more anxious. He already had so much work to do, he didn't need this added onto the pile.

'Great!'

And with _'great'_ his teacher meant _'I don't care that you don't want to do it, because you will do it regardless of your opinion since I want to get my salary by doing the least amount of the work myself'_.

The bell rang, signalling the end of class, and with the umpteenth sigh of the day Percy packed his bag and left for his next class.

By the time the day was over, Percy was basically dragging his body over to his locker where Will was waiting for him.

'You look like an absolute wreck,' he said, and Percy was too tired to make a joke, so he just nodded.

'C'mon, let's go get some hot choc.'

Will told him he knew the perfect place for hot chocolate, and that he used to go there all the time with his mother when he was little. Percy nodded and followed Will as they walked in comfortable silence.

Percy thought about how bad he must look if it was enough to make Will speak up about it. And walking next to literal sunshine probably didn't make the contrast look any better. He knew he had bags under his eyes because of his lack of sleep, and he could feel his eyes droop, but he thought it might be a bit worse than that. His hair was probably dishevelled more than usual, and his face was probably unusually pale.

He was just about to start thinking about how tired he actually _felt_ instead of how he looked, but then they made it to the cafe, so he thought about hot chocolate again. It was so close, yet so far away, because he still had to order it, and at that point Percy could barely walk, that's how tired he was.

There were two people in line in front of them, so they waited their turn to order. When they got to the front of the line the girl that was taking their orders smiled at them.

 _'She has a pretty smile,'_ Percy thought to himself. _'Wait what?'_

'Oh, hi Will, the usual again?' she asked.

'Um not today Annabeth, two hot chocolates please,' Will said with a smile that the cute barista returned.

_'Cute?'_

Percy blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes, making sure he was seeing properly. Then he felt Will's hand grab his wrist and drag him away from the counter.

'Hey!' he complained. 'I said _I'd_ pay for the drinks!'

Will shrugged. 'Your sleepy ass was holding up the line. And besides, if you really want to you could always pay me back.'

Percy crossed his arms and huffed, but sat down at the table anyway, feeling no desire to waste his minimal energy on a silly discussion. He'd just pay Will back later.

They waited for about two minutes until their drinks were ready, and Will went to pick them up and brought them back to the table.

'There, this should help. At least, it does for me, so I figured-'

'Thanks, Will,' Percy said, sending a very small and tired, but sincere smile his way.

Will smiled back and took a sip from his cup. Percy followed suit and burned his tongue. He almost had the urge to spit the flaming hot liquid out, but knew that wouldn't be any better, so he tried swallowing it as quick as possible, but it must have gone down the wrong way because Percy almost choked on it.

As he basically coughed up his lungs, he put his hand up, signalling to Will that he was fine, for the other boy looked quite worried.

'Are you okay?' Will asked when he'd stopped coughing.

Percy nodded. 'Yeah, I'm fine, just... forgot hot chocolate was hot.'

'Okay,' Will said, and Percy could see he was trying to hide his smile.

'You can laugh you know? I'm fine and that was pretty stupid,' he admitted, even laughing a little himself.

Will giggled and said: 'Yeah, that wasn't really your smartest moment.'

They drank the rest of their drinks without choking or burning their tongues, and Percy enjoyed the feeling of the beverage calming him down and relieving some of his stress. It also warmed him up inside and made him sleepy- even more than he already was.

'Thanks, Will,' he said. 'I really needed that.'

Will flashed him one of his bright signature smiles and told him not to worry about it. They then each went their own ways, and in Percy's case that was to the couch in the living room to have a well needed afternoon nap.

The next day Percy felt a lot better since he'd actually gotten the amount of sleep he needed to function like a human being instead of a hermit crab.

He gave Will his money back when he passed him in the halls at school, he attended classes (fully awake this time) and went to the library for a bit more studying.

At the end of the day, he felt pretty good about his productiveness and realised that cramming wasn't always the best way to finish everything since sleep was pretty important too.

And so, he made sure to go to bed on time from then on. That made getting out of bed in the mornings a lot easier too, so sometimes he could even wake up a bit earlier and get the last of his homework done before he left off to school.

Things seemed to be going a lot smoother since the day he went to get hot chocolate with Will, especially now that he'd done most of his tests and gotten them over with because he didn't need to put all his time in studying anymore.

Now all he had left was that stupid star exercise fifteen for physics, and then he could finally relax a bit, or at least, as much as school would let him relax when had only homework to worry about.

Percy sat the library staring at the exercise while impatiently clicking his pen. After what felt like forever, he decided it was not working. With a deep sigh, he packed up his stuff and made his way home. When he was about halfway though, an idea suddenly struck him.

He'd felt comfortable and pretty relaxed at the cafe with Will. What if he went back, ordered another hot chocolate and tried doing his homework there? A change of scenery might help him focus a bit more too.

When he stepped inside, he remembered how tired and desperate he'd felt, and that wasn't even a week ago. He smiled, wondering how everything had made a total 180 in such a short time. And that thanks to a cup of hot choc he choked on.

'Hi, what can I get for you?' a voice from behind the counter said.

Percy had been so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed that he was already at the front of the line.

'Uh...' He tried forming words, but they all got lost in his throat as he looked at the barista. It was the same girl as before, but now Percy was awake, and his brain was working well enough to take in how she looked. She was about average height, with wavy blond hair, and sparkling grey eyes that looked like the most beautiful storm clouds Percy had ever seen.

He mentally slapped himself in the face and forced out the words 'one hot chocolate please' and then walked away as fast as he could, his face unusually warm.

After he got his drink, he sat down at one of the tables and took his homework out of his bag. The hot chocolate was still just as nice as the last time and the cafe was buzzed with people talking and enjoying their drinks, but also a really calming environment at the same time.

To his surprise, Percy made it through half of the exercise, but then got stuck again. He stared at the page in his book, and then at the notes he'd made, but he couldn't find a way to tie them together and get to come up with a proper answer to the question.

He sighed. Maybe he should just give up and tell his stupid teacher that he couldn't do it. Just as he was about to get up and leave, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw that it was the cute barista.

 _'No, not cute, just a naturally beautiful person,'_ he told himself.

'Hi,' he said.

'Hi,' the barista said back. 'I, um, saw that you seemed to be stuck with something, for quite a while might I add. And since I'm on my break now, I wondered if maybe you'd like some help,' she offered.

Percy didn't know what to say. The cute- no, nice barista had been watching him sit at the table staring helplessly at his physics book for however long he'd been there for, and now she'd come over to offer him her help?

'I... I mean, I'd really appreciate some help, but you don't even know what I'm stuck with,' he said.

The barista shrugged. 'I'm top of my class at almost every subject, so I don't think it should be a problem.'

Now Percy really didn't know what to say. Most people would find it quite rude if someone just told them they were the top of all their classes without even knowing said person, but her message didn't seem to come off that way. Percy actually found it quite nice that she was willing to use her knowledge to help out a random stranger.

'Oh, well, um it's... this,' he tried explaining, pointing at his physics book.

The barista sat down next to him and took a quick look before nodding slowly.

'Ah, physics,' she said. 'Should be alright. Now, which exercise was giving you a hard time?'

Percy showed her the exercise, and how far he'd gotten, but told her he had no clue what to do next. She took a good look at the exercise and his messy notes- which were good, just incomplete- and helped him through it. She didn't tell him exactly what to do but asked him some questions and made him think for himself a bit as well, but it was exactly the kind of help he needed. He got there, step by step, and with the nice barista's help, he finally finished it, now also understanding how to explain it to class the next day.

'Thank you so much,' Percy took a glance at her name tag, because he didn't think it would be appropriate to call her barista, 'Annabeth.'

Annabeth smiled. 'No proble-' she was cut off by her phone alarm, which probably meant her break was over. 'Oh, I have to go. But it was nice meeting you...'

'Percy.'

'Percy,' she repeated, and with one last smile, she went back to the counter to take people's orders again.

The next day he explained the exercise in front of the class, which in the end went pretty well. Of course, his teacher had a million things to say about what he could have done better, but in the end, he told him it was fine, so Percy just shrugged it off.

After school he decided to go celebrate it with a cup of hot chocolate and maybe also thank Annabeth while he was there.

He walked inside and he was already used to the familiar scent of the cafe after only have been there two times. He waited in line, but when it was his turn a different barista was behind the counter.

Percy ordered his drink and sat down at a table while he waited, but he couldn't ignore the tight feeling in his chest that had formed from the moment he'd realised Annabeth wasn't there. Was he disappointed not to see her? Sad? Whatever it was, the feeling was making him extremely confused.

He went home, a frown on his face as he tried to figure out what the feeling had meant. Maybe he should ask someone for advice about it. He thought Jason might be able to help him but decided against it. No, not Jason, but maybe Nico could help him.

So, the next day at school during lunchtime he asked Nico if he could help him out with something after school to witch the younger boy agreed. They went to Percy's house and Nico asked him:

'Well, what's up?'

'Hm,' Percy said, trying to think of a way that he could explain it. 'There's this girl...' he started, and Nico rolled his eyes laughing.

'Seriously? You couldn't ask Jason for help with this?'

'Well, you see, I um... I thought I liked boys but now I don't know what's going on,' Percy mumbled.

Nico looked at him, seeming to take his words in for a moment before thinking of a response.

'Hold up, you _thought_ you liked boys?' he asked.

'W-well, yeah, but now I'm not sure anymore because t-this girl... I don't know what's going on, so I thought maybe you did,' Percy stammered, not looking Nico in the eye.

It was silent for a moment. Percy thought it might be strange for Nico seeing as he might've thought of Percy as straight until that moment. He also knew the other boy had had a crush on him about a year back, so maybe Nico felt a bit confused about this new information. But then again, Nico had moved on and was now dating Will, so maybe it didn't affect him at all.

'Do you mind me asking why you thought you liked boys?' Nico said eventually.

Percy took a deep breath. 'I had a crush on Jason for about two years straight.'

'Gay.'

Percy frowned. 'W-what?'

'Two years gay. There's literally nothing straight about you liking Jason,' Nico said deadpan.

'Oh, right.' Percy let out a small laugh.

'So, wait a minute, the reason you turned me down was because you liked Jason?'

Percy wasn't quite sure if Nico was being serious or not, but he nodded anyway.

'Interesting... But whatever, that's not what we were talking about,' Nico said, hastily changing the subject. 'You have a crush on a girl now?'

'I wouldn't call it a crush...' _'yet,'_ a voice at the back of his mind added, 'but she made me feel something and I'm just really confused right now.'

Nico nodded slowly. 'Right.'

'It's stupid, I know, I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have bothered you with this nonsense.' Percy looked away, feeling a bit ashamed, but he felt Nico's hand softly pat his shoulder.

'It's fine Percy. Maybe you're just overthinking it. I'm sure you'll figure it out.'

That night as Percy lay in bed, he thought about what Nico had said. Maybe he really was just overthinking it.

Whether or not that was true, Percy still went back to the cafe after school every day. Sometimes he ordered hot chocolate, other times a cup of tea, or nothing at all. Percy would usually sit at the same table and do his homework, enjoying the quit buzz of life in the cafe.

After a few weeks he knew on which days Annabeth worked there, and it was usually those days that he actually ordered a drink. She was there every Monday, Tuesday and Friday, and since he came there after school every day, they got to know a bit more about each other.

Every time Percy walked inside and ordered his drink, she'd ask him how his day was going, and he'd ask her how she was doing. During Annabeth's breaks, she'd sometimes come over to sit with Percy and they'd just chat and have a great time. Or if Percy didn't understand his homework, Annabeth would explain it and help him get it done.

'Hey, Annabeth?' Percy asked her one Friday during her break.

'Hm?'

'Would you consider us as friends?'

Annabeth shook her head and smiled. 'No, I just really enjoy sitting with a stranger during my breaks.'

Percy snorted. 'I take that as a yes?'

'Of course, silly. Why'd you ask?'

'Oh, I thought I'd check to make sure, because if you didn't think we were friends I highly doubt you'd appreciate me asking for your number,' he explained shrugging.

'But we are now, so I'd gladly give you my number,' Annabeth said, and Percy couldn't help but smile.

He usually wasn't one to ask for people's numbers, but when he walked out of the cafe about half an hour later, a warm feeling filled him inside as he looked at the new contact in his phone. And this time he was sure the warm feeling wasn't just the hot chocolate.

Over the course of a month it became a routine that Percy would go to the cafe on the days that Annabeth worked there, and they'd hang out during her breaks. But now that they had each other's numbers they also kept in contact on other days too.

Every time Percy received a message from her, he would immediately feel happier and he was starting to get the feeling that maybe he did have a crush on Annabeth. Just a little.

It was a Saturday night, and he couldn't seem to fall asleep, the thoughts of his so called 'crush' on Annabeth filling his mind. It couldn't be that much of a crush, right? He liked boys. It was only after half an hour of tossing and turning that he decided to grab is phone and google _is it possible to like both boys and girls_.

_Bisexual/bi – when people fancy a range of people. This could mean a boy fancying other boys and girls, or people who are non-binary (for more information on what non-binary means, click here)_

Percy thought about that for a moment. So, it _was_ possible. He tapped the search bar again and typed in _bisexual_.

Now there were plenty of definitions and sources of information and Percy could finally figure out what it really meant. Of course, he knew about it, but he never really knew if it was what he felt or not. He thought that it might have meant that you liked a boy and a girl at the same time, or that you switch between liking boys or girls.

_Bisexual_

_Someone who is in all ways attracted to both guys and girls. It is not because they are sex fanatics, or simply can't decide. Being bisexual is not a phase from people who haven't fully come out yet. It is as real as being straight or gay. You might have a preference over one sex, but bisexual means you can be attracted to both genders sexually, physically, and emotionally. In other words, you are fully capable of FALLING IN LOVE with them._

So that didn't mean that one of his crushes on Jason or Annabeth were fake. And he wasn't switching between being gay and being straight; this was the halfway point, but it was also a sexuality of itself. Maybe that's what it was. He wasn't overthinking anything, and he wasn't suddenly changing the way he thought, he was just... bi.

The thought of him actually having a label sounded weird in Percy's head. For the past few years, he'd just thought of it as 'I like Jason, so I must like guys' but he'd never actually thought about the fact that he might not be gay.

When he was little, he'd had crushes on both guys and girls, but at the time he'd thought it must be fake, because he wasn't old enough to decide. Looking back, he realised that it made so much sense that he could be bisexual. It was like everything was falling into place somehow. He liked boys and he liked girls, but most of all, he liked Annabeth.

He thought of how much his feelings had grown in the last month or so. He'd started noticing more about her, just those little things like the way she scrunched up her nose if they were talking about something she didn't like. Or how her eyes sparkled when she told him about how she wanted to become an architect one day. He'd noticed how much he liked looking at her stormy grey eyes, especially when she talked about architecture because then they seemed to sparkle the most.

Percy wanted to mentally slap himself. He'd noticed all those things about her, and yet he still thought his crush couldn't be real because he used to like Jason. It was too obvious that he liked her, and he felt like an idiot for only properly realising now that he knew he was bisexual. But at least his mind had cleared out for now, and he could finally go to sleep. He'd worry about what to do about his crush in the morning.

Apparently, that meant that he tried forgetting about it until he saw her again, for he did his best to think about _anything_ else.

'Hey, Percy,' Jason said when he got to school. 'What's up?'

'Nothing much,' Percy answered.

His friend nodded slowly. 'Just thought you seemed more relaxed than usual.'

Percy wondered why it seemed like that. Maybe because he had the weight of all the confusion listed from his shoulders.

'I guess,' he said shrugging.

After Percy grabbed some books from his locker the two of them walked to their first class of the day together.

'So, what have you been up to lately?' Jason asked. 'I haven't seen you around lately- besides in class of course,' he added.

'Doing homework, helping my mum and Paul take care of Estelle, getting hot chocolate every now and then. Not really anything interesting,' Percy explained with a laugh. 'How about you? Are you and Piper still going strong?'

Jason nodded. 'We went to the movies last week, but otherwise my life has been kind of the same as yours. Well, without the hot chocolate.'

Percy gasped dramatically. 'What do you have against hot chocolate?'

'Nothing!' the other boy said, putting his hands up in defence. 'I just don't really drink it.'

'Fine, we're going to get some hot chocolate this afternoon, I don't care what you think. What are you doing with your life if you don't have a cup of hot chocolate sometimes?'

He knew it was kind of hypocritical of him to be saying that he knew he thought the same way as Jason before having gone to get it with Will. And the fact that he had a biased opinion about it because the memory of drinking it was indirectly linked with Annabeth especially made it hypocritical, but he was stubborn, so he wasn't going to change his mind.

Jason rolled his eyes, but Percy could see a smile tugging at his lips. 'Whatever you say Jackson.'

'Exactly,' he answered smirking, and then sat down because they'd made it to class. 'You won't regret it, I promise.'

'Hmm, sure,' Jason hummed.

'Okay fine, don't believe me then. But if you for some strange reason don't like it that's _your_ problem.'

'I'm starting to get a feeling that this is about something more than just hot chocolate.'

Percy thought of Annabeth but then quickly shook that from his mind. 'Of course not!'

That didn't seem to convince Jason. 'Is that a blush I see on your cheeks?' he teased.

'You're hallucinating Grace,' Percy huffed, but before his annoying friend could respond, the teacher walked in and both boys shut up so they could focus on the lesson that was about to start.

The rest of the day went by quickly, and nothing else was said about the reasoning to get hot chocolate. Percy and Jason walked from school to the cafe, just like Percy did every week, but he didn't tell Jason that.

Percy nudged Jason's shoulder with his own. 'Don't look so sceptical dude, the hot chocolate here is great!' he assured him.

Jason nodded and smiled smugly. 'I'm just curious to find out why you actually wanted to come here, but okay.'

When they got inside, they stood in line and waited to order. After a few minutes they got to the counter where Annabeth was standing as usual, that adorable smile on her face.

'Hi Percy,' she greeted him. 'What can I get for you today?'

'Hey Annabeth, I'd like two hot chocolates please,' he ordered while smiling back at her.

'Alright, I see you have a friend with you today.'

'Oh! Yeah, this is Jason.' He turned back to his friend in question and said: 'Jason, this is Annabeth.'

Jason waved politely and Annabeth waved back.

Being the great friend he was, Percy paid for both of their drinks and they went to sit at a table as they waited.

'Seriously Perc? You just want to get hot chocolate with me but suddenly forget I exist when the barista, who knows you by name might I add, takes our order. Seems Pretty suspicious if you ask me...' Jason wondered out loud.

Percy leaned over to slap his friend on the shoulder. 'This is not Among Us, stop overanalysing everything,' he hissed.

'I'm not overanalysing. I just think it's suspicious that you look at the barista with starry eyes, but don't want to tell me anything about it.'

Percy could feel his face warm up. He didn't know he looked at Annabeth with starry eyes like Jason claimed. But then again, it didn't surprise him because Annabeth was really beautiful, and she had such a sweet smile.

'Yeah, you're drifting off in thought there, buddy,' Jason remarked, waving his hand in front of Percy's face.

'No, I'm not!' After denying it though, Percy thought that it might have not been the best response. He could have just said that he was worrying about a test or something, maybe that would have seemed more believable.

Jason nodded, making a face that was probably supposed to mean: ' _R_ _ight... I don't believe it for a second, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.'_

Just as Percy was about to protest that, really, he wasn't drifting off in thought about Annabeth's smile, their orders were done. He got up to go pick up their drinks and Jason simply laughed.

 _'Whatever,'_ Percy thought to himself. _'I'll let him believe what he wants to believe.'_

When he got back, he handed Jason one of the cups and took a sip of the other. He looked at the other boy as he slowly took a sip of his drink too. After nodding for a bit, he noted said:

'Yeah, you were right. It's actually not that bad.'

Percy grinned. Of course he was right, his taste was obviously superior to Jason's.

'Also, why don't you just ask her out if you like her so much?' he added, which almost made Percy choke on his hot chocolate.

Ask Annabeth out? No, no, no, that didn't seem like a good idea. But then again, Percy had thought taking Jason to get some hot chocolate was a good idea, so what was _actually_ a good idea at this point? He wondered about that while mentally making a note reminding him to never take his friend out to get hot chocolate with him ever again.

The next few days passed by like a breeze. Before he even knew it, the holidays had arrived and Percy could finally relax. He could also finally spend some quality time with Estelle while his mum and Paul were out having a day to themselves.

'So, what do you want to do Stelly?' he asked his sister.

Estelle just giggled and drooled like she always did, and Percy laughed. 'Great idea.'

He got Estelle's stroller ready so they could go for a walk, and then made sure to pack some blue cookies for on the way.

'You ready to go?'

Estelle squealed with happiness and clapped her small hands.

Percy couldn't help but admire how lucky he was to have a sister like Estelle. He already knew she'd grow up to rule the world.

They went for a nice, long walk, and Percy enjoyed the fact that he didn't have to worry about anything and could just focus on Estelle's excited giggling when she saw a bird fly past.

Halfway through their walk, Percy noticed that they were pretty close to what was now his favourite cafe.

'Hey Stelly, what do you say about a break with some hot chocolate and blue cookies?'

Estelle looked up at the words 'blue cookies', her eyes filled with mischief and excitement. 'Coo-kah,' she said.

'That's right, cookies!' Percy told her, the smile on his face growing even wider with adoration for his little sister.

'Cookah!'

Percy laughed as they made a quick detour to the cafe while Estelle chanted 'Cookah! 'Cookah!' over and over.

When they walked inside the familiar scent of the cafe made Percy smile. He waited in line, which seemed to be shorter than usual, but maybe that was just his imagination. As usual, Annabeth was waiting at the counter, ready to take his order.

'Hi Percy, and...' she looked at Estelle with a smile. 'Who's this?'

'This is my Estelle, she's my little sister,' Percy explained, and Estelle giggled.

'Okay, well, what can I get for you today, Percy and Estelle?'

When Annabeth said her name, Estelle giggled happily and clapped her hands.

Percy laughed, and told her that he'd like a hot chocolate. Annabeth took care of the order after he paid for it, and then he looked for an empty table to sit at. Estelle had started chanting 'cookah' again, and Percy booped her on her little nose making her laugh.

'Just a few more minutes Stelly,' he told her.

When his order was ready, he went to pick it up and then walked back to Estelle.

'Cookah?' she asked, her large eyes looking at the cup curiously.

Percy shook his head lightly and sat down. He took the lid off of the cup and grabbed the bag with blue cookies. At the sight of the cookies Estelle squealed and stuck out her hands, making grabbing motions towards them.

'Just you wait Stelly, I'll make this cookie _even better.'_

Percy took a cookie and grinned mischievously at his sister. He then dipped it in the hot chocolate, letting it soak up as much of the chocolatey goodness as possible.

Noticing that her brother didn't give her a cookie, Estelle pouted. 'Cookah?' she asked sadly.

'Cookah,' Percy said, handing her the cookie, and planting a kiss on her cheek.

She took the cookie from him with both her hands and popped it in her mouth. Her eyes sparkled at the taste of this strange new cookie.

'That's nice, isn't it?' he asked her, dipping is own cookie in the warm beverage.

'Blue cookies?' someone behind them suddenly asked, and Percy turned around.

'Oh, hey Annabeth! Wait, this isn't your usual break time,' he said confused.

Annabeth sat down on one of the chairs and nodded. 'Yeah, well, due to some people taking days off and stuff because of the holidays, the times have been switched up a bit,' she explained.

'That makes sense,' Percy said, handing Estelle another cookie.

'So, what's it about these blue cookies that's so special?'

Percy smirked. 'Are you trying to tell me you want one?' he asked.

Annabeth smiled, a daring look in her eyes. 'Maybe.'

They talked and laughed, enjoying their time spent together with some hot chocolate and blue cookies while Annabeth was on her break.

Whenever they laughed at one of their jokes, Estelle always joined in, giggling happily as if she understood exactly what they were saying, occasionally babbling along with the conversation.

'Your sister is absolutely adorable,' Annabeth said, looking fondly at Estelle who was pouting because she couldn't have any more cookies.

'I know right,' he said, smiling too. 'I believe that one day, she'll rule this world.'

Annabeth nodded. 'Oh, totally.'

'Cookah?' Estelle asked quietly.

Percy shook his head and stroked her hair. 'They're finished Stelly, you can have some more tomorrow,' he told his sister.

Estelle pouted again, but that didn't last long, for her eyes started to droop. She rubbed them with her little hands and yawned.

'I think someone's ready for their afternoon nap,' Percy said. He then turned to Annabeth: 'I guess we'll get going then...'

Annabeth checked the time and nodded, telling him that her break would end in three minutes anyway, but Percy couldn't help but notice that she seemed to look kind of disappointed.

'Right...'

'Well, uhm, goodbye. See you next time,' she said softly.

'Bye.' He got up and turned Estelle's stroller around. Just as he was about to walk away, he remembered just how much he enjoyed being with Annabeth, and how he always wished their times spent together were longer than Annabeth's twenty-minute breaks.

_'Why don't you just ask her out if you like her so much?'_

Jason's words filled him with courage, and he turned back to Annabeth who was clearing the table to get ready for her shift again.

'Hey, Annabeth?'

She looked up, a surprised look on her face, probably wondering why he was still here. 'Yeah?' she asked.

'I really like you, and I was wondering if you'd maybe want to go on a date with me sometime, and actually spend time together outside of your breaks. I- I mean, we could also hang out as friends if you want to or-'

Percy knew he was rambling, and he could feel the blood running to his face, but Annabeth cut him off:

'I'd love to go on a date with you.' She smiled at him, her grey eyes sparkling again, and Percy couldn't believe how happy he felt.

The moment was ruined by someone- probably Annabeth's boss- calling for her to get back behind the counter.

'I have to go...' she said, motioning to the person who called her.

'Okay, yeah, uh, I'll text you?'

Annabeth nodded, and for a moment she seemed to hesitate about what to do, but then gave Percy a quick kiss on the cheek before running off to do her job again.

When he and the now sleeping Estelle left the cafe, he knew he was blushing and grinning like a complete idiot, but he honestly couldn't care. He was going to go on a date with the cutest, smartest, most amazing girl in the world, and maybe, _maybe_ , that would lead to something more. Whether it did or not, Percy didn't really care, for now he just had to make sure that he wouldn't make a fool of himself on his first date.

**Author's Note:**

> tadaaa~
> 
> i honestly never thought this fic would ever come to and end, but here we are lol. so yeah, thanks so much for reading! i'd really appreciate if you left a comment, but nobody's forcing you, it's a free world, do whatever you want ^^ just know that either way, i hope you have a wonderful day


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